Many document scanners include a document feeding system that moves a document from an input tray, through a transport path and creates an image of the document as it moves past a stationary imaging capture device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or Contact Image Sensor (CIS). Sensors in the transport are used to make sure the document enters the transport correctly. Depending on the type of document or document characteristics, the operator must select functions and features to optimize the scanner to accommodate the specific requirements for a particular document.
In a document scanner, the documents to be scanned may vary by size, weight, color content, physical condition, or other characteristics, which may require different scanner features to be enabled or operator actions to be employed for the most optimal and efficient mode of operation. Since the scanner is not typically programmed with specific requirements on a document-by-document basis, the user may default the scanner to a set of less efficient settings that will process all documents within a batch. Alternately, the operator may manually sort the documents based on common document characteristics. Documents could be sorted based on document characteristics, such as length, width, weight, color, physical condition, or document type.
However in document scanning, sometimes a document may have characteristics that are incompatible with the scanner's setup or may require special processing to provide acceptable results. During these instances, it is important to detect the document and provide the scanner operator with an efficient method to handle the exception condition. The later in the scanning processing stream the exception is detected the more difficult and costly the recover process becomes.
Many prior art scanners provide an audio tone, or illuminate an “error” LED to notify the scanner operator when the scanner stops for an exception. In other scanners, a simple character-based display is used to display a short message to the scanner operator. For example, the Cannon DR-X10C scanner includes ultrasonic sensors that are used to detect multiple documents feed into the transport and provide an appropriate message on a character-based display. However, in many cases, the minimal amount of information that can be provided using this approach does not provide the scanner operator with sufficient information to properly evaluate the severity of the exception and determine an appropriate action.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,277 to Borrey et al., entitled “Virtual rescanning: a method for interactive document image quality enhancement,” describes an image processing system for processing scanned images using user predefined parameters and acceptable tolerances. When a scanned image falls outside of the predefined parameter tolerances, the system invokes a real-time user interactive process to adjust image setting data used to process the scanned image.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0027056 to Ogino et al., entitled “Image forming apparatus, program, and preview display method,” describes an image forming system including a preview that provides the capability to view preview images including information about finishing options before they are printed.
There remains a need for an improved method to enable a scanner operator to evaluate and correct for detected exceptions on a document-by-document basis, thereby improving the efficiency of the scanning process.